1 student shot to death outside SC State dorm

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ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) – A student was shot and killed Friday outside an on-campus dormitory at South Carolina State University, and police were looking for four men who left campus.

Brandon Robinson, 20, died not long after he was shot outside of the Hugine Suites around 1:30 p.m., authorities said. The gunmen left campus before police could catch them, but authorities decided to lock down the campus so they could not return, said University Police Chief Mernard Clarkson.

“Our students are secure and safe as we keep looking for these individuals,” Clarkson said.

Clarkson said police haven’t figured out what led to the shooting. He said his officers know one person they want to talk to, but he wasn’t ready to release a name.

The shooting shocked the entire campus, university President Thomas Elzey said. Greif counselors will be brought in to talk to students and staff.

“We, again, are extraordinarily sad about this. He was a very nice young man. And it hurts. It hurts us all,” Elzey said, trying to hold back tears.

Elzey said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered any help the school needed.

The university lifted its lockdown Friday evening, but Clarkson said the school was letting traffic in and out of campus through only one gate.

South Carolina State also was the site of a fatal shooting in 2011, when police said three men met on campus for a drug deal. A student, 22-year-old Jonathan Bailey, was killed.

Friday’s fatal shooting happened three days after authorities said a Purdue University student shot and stabbed a fellow student to death in a classroom.

South Carolina State University is a historically black university with about 3,200 students in Orangeburg, about 40 miles south of Columbia.